Greenvale shares are trading down today despite the company making an announcement on its maiden drilling program in NT.

Let's investigate further.

A quick recap on Greenvale Mining

Greenvale Mining is an international energy company. It is in the business of exploiting oil shale deposits.

The company owns the Alpha oil shale deposit in Qld and the Georgina Basin IOCG project in NT.

At the time of writing, Greenvale has a market capitalisation of $170 million.

What did Greenvale announce?

Greenvale advised that it was "on track" to start its "maiden diamond drilling program" at its Georgina Basin Iron Oxide Copper Gold (IOCG) project" by around 15 September.

The project is located in Australia's "East Tennant district", which was recently labelled as "one of Australia's 'hot spots'" as per the release.

Greenvale also announced that all site preparations are complete, and the field team is now in place.

From its preliminary studies, Greenvale has obtained "encouraging preliminary results" which point to "large-scale" IOCG deposits in a zone known as the "twin peaks".

This twin peaks section will be targeted by Greenvale's "initial phase of drilling". As such, the company has also made significant investment in the specialised mine equipment for drilling and the exploration camp. These factors demonstrate the company's "commitment to being a long-term player in broader East Tennant area", as per the announcement.

In addition to these updates, Greenvale also announced it has an "initial four diamond holes" planned across "Eastern and Western targets" at the site.

This coincides with a "high-resolution 12,168–line kilometre airborne, radiometric and geophysical survey" which Greenvale plans to start in the next few weeks.

Investors haven't bought the news on Monday, and have pushed the Greenvale Mining share price lower on the day.

Greenvale shares are now changing hands at 40.5 cents apiece, an almost 6% drop from the open.

What did management say?

Commenting on the announcement, Greenvale's managing director, Neil Biddle said:

Our initial program will focus on the large-scale magnetic and gravity targets which we call the 'Twin Peaks'. The recently completed ground-based gravity program has helped us to refine these targets, which will be tested initially by four deep diamond holes commencing in the middle of this month.

Greenvale Mining share price snapshot

The Greenvale Mining share price has posted a year to date return of 212%. This extends the previous 12 month's mammoth gain of 820%.

Both of these results have far outpaced the S&P/ASX 200 index (ASX: XJO)'s return of 25% over the past year by a country mile.

The post Greenvale (ASX:GRV) share price slides 6% despite project update appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

Today's gains have also seen the Greenvale share price hit a new 52-week high of 34 cents. It broke its previous record earlier this afternoon.

Greenvale shares have also experienced impressive growth in 2021, currently a whopping 157% higher than they were at the beginning of the year.

Let's take a look at what the oil shale miner has been up to lately.

The month that's been

The ASX has received a multitude of news from Greenvale this year, but only 2 pieces of price sensitive news in the last 30 days.

The first was released on 7 June, when the miner announced it was ready to begin a "multi-pronged, high-impact" exploration program at its Georgina Basin IOCG Project in the Northern Territory.

Greenvale also announced its wholly-owned subsidiary, Knox Resources Pty Ltd, had successfully received funding from the NT Government in the form of 2 grants from the Resourcing the Territory initiative.

The grants saw the state government contribute just over $26,000 – 50% of the total cost – towards the on-ground gravity program at the Georgina Basin Project. The program's results are due to be released in mid-July.

The next time market heard from Greendale was on Monday when the company announced the successful completion of its core drill program at the Alpha Torbanite Project in central Queensland. The drill program has paved the way for its definitive feasibility study (DFS).

Greenvale expects to deliver the Alpha Torbanite Project's DFS later this year.

Greenvale share price snapshot

It goes without saying that 2021 has been good year so far for the Greenvale share price. And so have the last 12 months, which have seen Greenvale shares gain more than 1000%.

The company has a market capitalisation of around $120 million, with approximately 393 million shares outstanding.

The post The Greenvale (ASX:GRV) share price hit a new 52-week high today appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

The Greenvale share price has risen 12.9% to close at 17.5 cents per share today.

Greenvale is an international energy company focused on the discovery and exploitation of oil shale deposits. The company owns a 99.99% interest in the Alpha oil shale deposit located in Queensland, Australia and, more recently, 100% of the Georgina Basin IOCG Project in the NT. 

Project backed by Geoscience Australia

The Greenvale share price has now risen more than 34% since early March, when the company announced the initial drilling results of its Georgina Basin project enhanced the "prospectivity" of the mine. 

The Australian Government undertook the drilling through its National Drilling Initiative (NDI) program conducted with Geoscience Australia.

"This shows that the East Tennant area is an exciting frontier area for mineral exploration in Australia," said Dr Andrew Heap, the Minerals, Energy and Groundwater Division chief at Geoscience Australia. This government-backed interest in the area has continued to drive up the Greenvale share price. 

Drilling results

The NDI said its preliminary data released from 10 deep diamond holes drilled across the Barkly Tableland, east of Tennant Creek, showed that "the area is set to become one of Australia's most exciting exploration frontiers".

The holes contain mineralogical and geochemical evidence of large-scale gold- and copper-rich mineral deposits. Greenvale's exploration team is currently reviewing the results and will combine this information with data from a recently completed airborne geophysical survey. 

Greenvale says the geology intersected by the drill holes has confirmed the presence of rocks of the right age to host large-scale copper and gold deposits. The company has yet to release the results of those surveys. However, it has since passed resolutions for executive pay increases and incentive-based performance rights.

What Greenvale management said

Greenvale managing director Neil Biddle said the government's initial program had unlocked the potential of the region.

Having high-quality stratigraphic diamond drill holes completed by the government to unlock the potential of this exciting frontier mineral province is a huge leg-up for companies exploring in this area.

The preliminary results of the drilling, based on the photos of the core I have seen are absolutely outstanding and have provided a massive injection of confidence into the district. The holes have provided clear evidence that we are well and truly in the right area to unlock an entirely new generation of IOCG (iron-oxide copper gold) deposits in Australia.

Greenvale share price snapshot

The Greenvale share price is up 34% year-to-date. Its return of more than 1,700% over the past 12 months has beaten both the basic materials sector and the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) by more than 1,670%.

The post The Greenvale (ASX:GRV) share price rose 13% today. Here's why appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

The mineral exploration company's shares closed the day's trade at 10.5 cents per share.

Quick take on Greenvale

Based in North Fremantle, Western Australia, Greenvale is a mineral exploration company with a focus in oil shale deposits. The company owns a 99.99% interest in the Alpha shale oil deposit in central Queensland, and an 80% stake in the Iron Oxide Copper-Gold (IOCG) exploration project in the Georgina Basin.

What's lifting the Greenvale share price

The Greenvale share price was sent surging following the company's appointment of Mr Neil Biddle as managing director.

Mr Biddle is the founder of Pilbara Minerals Ltd (ASX: PLS) and has served on the Greenvale board since September, alongside mining executive Mr Tony Leibowitz.

He brings a significant wealth of experience to Greenvale, with over 35 years in senior management within the exploration and mining industry. Biddle will drive the development and commercialisation of the company's Alpha Torbanite Project in Queensland

Greenvale's Alpha Project is known to be the only remaining deposit of torbanite in Australia. The mineral is a substance between oil shale and coal, which consists of a variety of fine-grained black oil shale.

The company said that previous studies have shown that torbanite has potential to produce bitumen, light crude, and activated carbon.

According to Greenvale, over 800,000 tonnes per annum of the product is currently imported. The company highlighted that if the Alpha Project goes into production, the site will become a domestic supplier of bitumen, creating a unique position for Greenvale in the Australian market.

The company further noted Mr Biddle will supervise the pre-feasibility study for the Alpha Project which is due to be completed before mid-2021. The study will include resource drilling and bulk sampling test work, which will enable a final feasibility study, and potential investment decision.

Management commentary

Greenvale chair Mr Tony Leibowitz commented on the appointment of Mr Biddle. He said:

We believe the Alpha Torbanite Project is a project whose time has come, and I can think of no one better qualified to drive its development than Neil. Being resident in Queensland, Neil will be ideally placed to access the Project and work with our key consultants to rapidly advance Alpha towards production over the next 12 months.

He added:

Having worked closely with Neil at Pilbara Minerals, Bardoc Gold and other ventures over many years, I know that we possess the combined technical, corporate and commercial skill-sets to move this Project forward quickly and unlock value for our shareholders. Neil will also be well placed to advance our exciting Georgina IOCG Project in the Northern Territory, which is a frontier-scale exploration initiative capable of delivering Tier-1 mineral discoveries in an under-explored part of Australia.

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